You've convinced me. I need to let the government take care of things.
It would be much easier. They tax me just a few bucks more and I quit
giving - I come out ahead. I'm done.
On 2016-12-12 13:14, Steve Litt wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:32:39 -0700
> Keith Smith <techlists@phpcoderusa.com> wrote:
>
>
>> I was thinking about this over the weekend. Here is what I came up
>> with. Raise the minimum wage to $15/hr and ensure all other parts of
>> the economy will stay in check, such as no loss of jobs and no
>> inflation.
>
> If I had the power to do this type of thing, I think I could raise the
> minimum wage to $12/hr without serious side effects like those you
> mention.
>
>>
>> Then make sure I'm the guy at U-Haul that takes care of the rental
>> returns. Give my wife the same job. My wife and I would work that
>> job until we are 70. I'd love that. No stress, no hassle, no
>> leaning new technology. I could BBQ more often. Camp more often and
>> just enjoy life. I'm all for it. Can you arrange it?
>
> I think so. Obviously you and your wife would need to live very
> frugally, but BBQ and camping are pretty cheap. Also, it's obvious that
> I couldn't guarantee you U-Haul exactly, but some form of
> rental/leasing paperwork for $12/hr.
>
>>
>> Here is the down side. I would not be forced to grow, learn and
>> contribute.
>
> This is true. You could continue to live just like you always did, and
> contribute nothing. Because you wouldn't be forced to do so. You also
> would not be forced NOT to, and I have a feeling you and your wife
> would grow, learn and contribute, outside of your profession. Because
> that's who you are. It's even possible that, freed from the monthly
> scrabble to meet the budget, you might grow, learn and contribute more.
>
>> As a Christian I believe God has given each of us unique
>> talents and skills.
>
> This is obvious from simple observation.
>
>> These talents and skills are for us to make a
>> living and for making the community better. God requires that of us,
>> not the government.
>
> Yes. And I think God takes the broader perspective that improving the
> community needn't be linked to how you get your food. Jesus' major
> contribution wasn't carpentry/construction/crafting. His day job gave
> him the time and ability to persue his real talent.
>
> There's no telling the benefit of a $12/hr minimum wage's release of
> creativity among the masses. Perhaps, as a whole, our gifts of talent
> and skill would be magnified by a $12/hr minimum wage.
>
>>
>> By messing with the market's equilibrium, you mess with a God made
>> system. Man is fallible and government is even more fallible.
>
> Well yeah, but remember, God gave us brains sufficient to mess with
> systems. Brains sufficient to wipe out smallpox. Smallpox was made by
> God but apparently not endorsed by God. We messed with God's system
> when we cured Polio and Leprosy. Could it be that God is testing us so
> that we pick the right God given systems to mess with?
>
>>
>> In the above $15/hr example my wife who is a nurse would quit her job
>> and I would quit struggling with technology. My wife and I would lose
>> our desire to find what we are good at and we would lose our desire
>> to use our God given talent to better our community.
>
> Or, perhaps, with her basic needs met, your wife would start a nursing
> system for those locked out of our healthcare system. Perhaps you would
> put aside programming, and do that one thing you always really wanted
> to do, and do it well enough to benefit society.
>
>>
>> Struggle is good.
>
> That's true, as any history book shows.
>
>> Struggle creates change.
>
> That's not only true but obvious.
>
>> What I see is some want
>> to make things perfect. I say let us feel the pain, let us struggle
>> so we are strong.
>
> Me too, although I'd characterize it more as desire than pain. The most
> successful people weren't those in real, unending pain. They were
> people who envisioned something better, and followed their desire to
> follow through.
>
>> I keep hearing about all these stats and how my
>> experience is anecdotal, that my total life experience and watching
>> those around me is anecdotal. I must be some kind of freak. I must
>> not have live an American life.
>
> Nobody said that. Your life story is fairly typical of your age.
> Statistics take into account the people born later.
>
>>
>> Remember failure is a good thing. History is full of failure that led
>> to success. Failure is a great teacher. Once we stop failing we
>> stop being successful.
>
> Yes.
>
>>
>> It is up to us the people not the government. Government should only
>> be in place to protect the rights of the people and minimum wage is
>> not a right. Owning a home is not a right. Health insurance is not
>> a right. Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness are rights.
>
> Let me ask you this: If the minimum wage were repealed (as suggested 20
> or so posts ago), and for some professions pay goes down to the point
> where shelter is unaffordable, to what degree can a born-poor person
> pursue happiness sleeping all night in the rain and snow, then working
> for enough money to afford a loaf of bread and a few hot dogs? Now
> contemplate the degree of happiness pursuit accorded to which a person
> whose parents put him through college to get a decent job that yields
> food, clothing and shelter. Did our constitution really mean degrees of
> happiness pursuit should be based in great part on accident of birth?
> Can we not make a few additional tweaks to more fully implement life,
> liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
>
>> Now having said that it is up to each of us to help make our
>> community better by helping those in our community do better or to
>> help them up when they have fallen.
>
> Yes! I'm proud to have received many emails from readers of my books,
> thanking me for improving their careers. I've always believed on a
> personal level that if I'm not part of the solution, I'm part of the
> problem.
>
>>
>> It is you and I that are failing and we make it worse by delegating
>> our responsibilities to the government.
>
> You sure you're failing? Looks like you're doing just fine to me. Far
> as I know I'm not failing. I'm not looking to the government to pull
> *me* up, I'm looking to the government to pull up those who are
> temporarily down.
>
>>
>> We need to take responsibility. Don't like businesses that pay low
>> wages, don't buy their goods and services. I'll bet not one of you
>> that support raising the minimum wage will stop buying Walmart.
>
> You're right. I buy almost nothing at Walmart because of how they treat
> their employees, how they dump their employees' welfare on the state,
> and how they put local businesses out of business. I understand that
> some of my "made in America" policies will mean I pay $2000 for a
> computer that costs me $500 right now, and that's well worth the cost
> to me. But of course I'm not going to be paying $2K while everyone else
> is continuing the problem by buying the $500 foreign computer. This is
> one place where government regulation is needed.
>
>>
>> I will stand up against injustice with you, however YOU must be
>> willing to stand up and pay the price.
>
> Truer words have never been spoken.
>
>> If not do not ask me to
>> sacrifice.
>
> I envision very little sacrifice on your part if the minimum wage is
> raised to $12/hr.
>
>
> SteveT
>
> Steve Litt
> December 2016 featured book: Rapid Learning for the 21st Century
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/rl21
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--
Keith Smith
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